Updated: Sat Feb. 27 2010
Victims' rights activist Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu has resigned from his position as president of Association of Families of Persons Assassinated or Disappeared after being appointeded to the Senate last month.
Perhaps the most prominent Quebec advocate for victims of crime and families of missing people, Boisvenu founded AFPAD in 2004 after his daughter Julie went missing and was later found dead in 2002.
Boisvenu will be replaced by Michel Laroche who has served as legal advisor to the victims' rights organization until now.
Victims' activist Boisvenu steps down as head of AFPAD
HIV-positive couple to get new immigration hearing
'Excessive demand' on health care cited in initial rejection, By Allison Cross, Canwest News Service February 28, 2010
For three years, New Yorkers Ricardo Companioni and Andrew Grover have been eyeing Toronto as their new home.
Of the many things about Canada that appeal to the American couple, who are both HIV positive, the freedom to wed and access to universal health care are paramount.
But the pair has not yet been able to call Canada home.
Generally healthy and never hospitalized, the couple are nonetheless expected to have combined prescription drug costs of about $33,500 per year for the next 10 years.
It's an expense they have promised to pay themselves if they can't secure employer-based or private drug coverage when in Canada.
However, because there is nothing to stop the couple from enrolling in an Ontario drug program meant to help residents offset particularly high prescription costs, Citizenship and Immigration Canada rejected the couple's application for permanent residence status.
Companioni and Grover were told they would place an "excessive demand" on the health-care system.
"It wasn't denied right away. They kept asking us for more and more documents," said Companioni, a music programmer who applied in the skilled-worker category for immigration.
But at the urging of their lawyer, the couple -- who have amassed a half-million dollars in assets -- appealed the decision in Federal Court and won the right to have a new immigration officer examine their case.
The appeal's argument borrowed from a 2005 ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada on an immigration case, which set a precedent for ensuring immigration officers take into account plans made by applicants on how they will contribute to their, or their dependents', social services costs.
The couple's lawyer, Michael Battista, argued this consideration should also be extended to something such as prescription drug costs.
The HIV and AIDS Legal Clinic in Ontario also formally intervened in the case on behalf of the couple.
Although Citizenship and Immigration then proceeded to file its own appeal, Battista said he's confident Companioni and Grover will eventually become permanent residents.
Citizenship and Immigration will not discuss specific immigration cases because of privacy concerns.
Canadian legislation doesn't explicitly deny entry to people with HIV or AIDS, but it does deny applicants who will place "an excessive demand" on health services. As HIV-AIDS is a costly, long-term illness, it often falls into this category.
Sergio Karas, a Toronto immigration lawyer, said accepting immigration applications on the basis of their ability to pay for any aspect of their health care or social services is problematic, particularly because it can't be policed.
There is always a chance applicants will renege on their promise to pay for health care, Karas said, and once they're on Canadian soil, there's nothing the government can do to stop it.
"The basic problem is that unless there are mechanisms in place that can monitor this, whatever promises they make, can turn out to be meaningless," he said. "And unfortunately, there are no mechanisms to monitor them. Once you receive residency, it becomes unconditional."
Manitoba teachers under investigation for dirty dancing at high school
February 24, 2010, By Steve Lambert, THE CANADIAN PRESS
WINNIPEG - Two Manitoba high school teachers who performed a sexually suggestive bump-and-grind routine in front of surprised students now face the possibility of losing their jobs.
A one-minute video of the performance, which has been uploaded to several web sites, has generated a heated debate over whether the faux-lap dance was harmful to students, or was relatively tame for a generation brought up with racy music videos and the Internet.
"This type of conduct has actually crossed the line. This is, I believe, inappropriate for a school setting," Mike Babinsky, one of nine trustees in the Winnipeg School Division, said Wednesday.
Babinsky said the teachers should be fired.
"If it was up to me, and alone up to me, yes, I believe so."
The male and female teacher performed something akin to a lap dance at a rally for students in Grades 9 through 12 last week at Churchill High School, although both remained fully clothed.
The teachers, who are not identified in the video, could not be reached for comment.
Several people were on the gymnasium floor at the time, participating in a dance competition. The video shows the female teacher leaning back in a chair with her arms behind her head, and the male teacher bobbing his head near her crotch and thrusting his bum near her crotch.
There is a lot of cheering heard in the video, but at one point a female student is seen looking at the camera, saying "that's wrong".
The teachers have been suspended with pay while the school division investigates and decides whether disciplinary action should be taken. Division officials could suspend the teachers without pay or even fire them. The latter would have to be approved by Babinsky and his fellow trustees.
The division wouldn't comment on the case Wednesday, calling it a confidential personnel matter.
The provincial teachers' union would only say that it will "assist the teachers through the process", according to union president Pat Isaak.
But virtually everyone else seemed to have an opinion.
"Ordinary decent people are outraged at this. The behaviour was unprofessional and a breach of trust," wrote one of dozens of people posting on the Winnipeg Free Press web site.
Many people, however, said the teachers do not deserve to be fired.
"The teachers acted strangely and should certainly get a sit-down with ... management. But seriously, have any of you people watched a Beyonce or Lady Gaga video lately?" read one of the most-approved comments on a national news agency's web site.
"I mean half these kids are heading out on the weekend and doing exactly that in the basement."
It's unclear how long the school division will take to decide the teachers' fate. Sometimes teachers who get into trouble are paid out until the end of the school year and do not have their contracts renewed, rather than being fired mid-year, Babinsky said.
"That way, they (don't) get fired, but they'll never work again."
Residential School Survivors
Forgiveness not possible for some residential school survivors: commissioner
February 21, 2010, By Chinta Puxley, THE CANADIAN PRESS
WINNIPEG - After travelling the country and hearing horrific tales of abuse suffered by aboriginal residential school survivors, the head of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission says he realizes that forgiveness is not an option for many victims.
The commission's first official national event is still several months away, but new chair Justice Murray Sinclair has been on the road since his appointment last July gathering stories from former students from British Columbia to Nova Scotia.
"Many people say they can never forgive anybody. We've heard elders say you can't forgive an institution that doesn't have a soul or a spirit," Sinclair said in an interview with The Canadian Press from the commission's new headquarters in Winnipeg.
"It's not a question of forgiveness for them. It's a question of moving on. Some have said there will never be any reconciliation for them and we just accept that as part of the truth-telling process."
The $60-million commission is finally getting underway after losing the first year of its mandate to infighting and the resignation of its commissioners. They couldn't agree whether reconciliation or historical documentation should be at the heart of the commission's mandate.
Part of a landmark compensation deal reached with residential school survivors, the commission is to hold its first national hearing in Winnipeg this June, followed by six other hearings across Canada.
Graphic details of rampant sexual and physical abuse are expected to be heard.
About 150,000 First Nation, Inuit and Metis children were forced to attend the government schools over much of the last century. The last school closed outside Regina in 1996.
When the new set of commissioners was appointed last July, they set about attending survivor ceremonies and information sessions across the country, averaging about seven a month.
They quickly decided to use the travelling meetings as a chance to begin gathering stories from school survivors, Sinclair says. Some of those stories were told in the open, others in private. Most took at least two hours.
"A lot of the painful stories that people talk about, both in the open sessions and in private, are about things that they saw happen to other people ... and the pain of seeing that and the fear they felt," says Sinclair, without going into detail.
"Everybody has a particular level that they need to achieve before they feel that they can move on from it," Sinclair says.
Michael Cachagee says he understands how it is that many can't forgive.
The executive director of the National Residential School Survivors' Society says forgiveness was a concept taught to many by the very churches that ran the schools and perpetuated the abuse that haunts victims.
"They talked about spirituality and they talked about forgiveness and all that other stuff," Cachagee says. "Then they did some horrible, horrible things to us."
Many survivors are also suspicious about the whole commission, especially given its inauspicious start, he says. Some feel left out of the process and feel like it's being run by the Crown - the body responsible for the schools in the first place.
" A lot of suspicion still hangs there today," Cachagee says. "This has to be more than just optics."
Alberta RCMP officer Keith Anderson charged!
Off-duty Alberta RCMP officer charged with breaking into private home
February 19, 2010, By THE CANADIAN PRESS
COCHRANE, Alta. - A rookie Alberta RCMP officer, who was a suspect in a break and enter, has now been charged with breaking into a home northwest of Calgary.
Mounties say the officer had only been on the job seven months and was on his first posting in Cochrane, Alta., when he was arrested. Police say a relative of the homeowner found an off-duty Mountie early Sunday morning inside a home in the bedroom community.
When the constable was told to leave, he identified himself as a police officer and left but was arrested a short time later.
Keith Anderson, 22, has been charged with break and enter and is expected to appear in court March 9.
He has been suspended with pay pending the outcome of the court case.
Courage and Spirit shown in Video of Jeanie DeVries and family!
TOUCHING video interview from the CBC with Jeanie de Vries the daughter of Sarah de Vries who was brutally murdered! Sarah disappeared from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.....
You will find the link here to watch the video:
http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/TV_Shows/The_National/ID=141374681
Hundreds forced into labor, sex in Ohio: Report
By MATT LEINGANG, The Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio — About 1,000 American-born children are forced into the sex trade in Ohio every year and about 800 immigrants are sexually exploited and pushed into sweatshop-type jobs, a new report on human trafficking in the state said Wednesday.
Ohio’s weak laws on human trafficking, its growing demand for cheap labor and its proximity to the Canadian border are key contributors to the illegal activity, according to a report by the Trafficking in Persons Study Commission.
“Ohio is not only a destination place for foreign-born trafficking victims, but it’s also a recruitment place,” said Celia Williamson, an associate professor at the University of Toledo who led the research.
Formed last year by Ohio Attorney General Richard Condray, the commission also found that hundreds more in the state are at risk of being forced into sex trafficking or to work against their will in fields, restaurants, sweatshops or constructions sites.
Nationwide, between 45,000 and 50,000 people are trafficked into the United States, according to a 2001 report by the U.S. State Department. But Williamson noted that the problem is hard to quantify because of the underground nature of human trafficking, and studies often rely on estimates. Even the Ohio study, which analyzed law enforcement and government databases, is limited, she said.
Cordray said the report establishes the scope of the problem in Ohio as authorities discuss ways to combat it.
From 1990 to 2000, Ohio’s foreign-born population increased 30 percent, and the state has a growing pool of legal and illegal immigrants who draw victims or hide victims, Williamson said. These networks are highly organized, with brothels fronting as legitimate businesses.
Also, Toronto’s airport is an arrival destination for international victims who are trafficked in Canada and transported to other cities, helping make Toledo, about 55 miles southwest of Windsor, Ontario, rank fourth in the U.S. in terms of arrests, investigations and rescue of domestic child-sex victims, the report said.
Only Miami, Portland, Ore., and Las Vegas had more.
A federal investigation into a child prostitution ring in Harrisburg, Pa., exposed Toledo as a center for the trade in 2005. Nine local girls were sold as sex slaves as part of the ring, and at least 12 of the 31 people charged had ties to Toledo.
Ohio does not have a stand-alone human trafficking law. Instead, it allows prosecutors to attach a human trafficking specification to related crimes that increase prison sentences — just as penalties are more severe if a crime involves a firearm.
According to the report, 42 states with tough human trafficking laws can bring serious charges. Offenders in Delaware, Montana, New Mexico and New York may face up to 100 years in prison, for example.
The report said that besides weak state laws in Ohio, law enforcement agencies often don’t recognize human trafficking when responding to reports of illegal activity. For example, Ohio is quick to label child prostitutes as delinquents and to incarcerate them, rarely looking further at the adults involved, Williamson said.
The report recommends handling child trafficking cases through the child welfare system rather than the juvenile courts.
Clato Mabior
HIV-positive man appeals conviction for not telling partners about his condition
February 10, 2010, By THE CANADIAN PRESS
WINNIPEG - The Manitoba Court of Appeal has reserved its decision in the case of a man with HIV who wants his conviction overturned for not telling six female partners about his condition.
Clato Mabior was sentenced in November 2008 to 14 years in prison for aggravated sexual assault, sexual touching and sexual interference.
His lawyer told the appeal court that testimony from two of the partners at Mabior's trial was unreliable and inconsistent.
The defence argued that none of the partners got the virus that can lead to AIDS and that the man's risk of infecting his partners was low, based on tests done at three-months intervals.
The Crown argued that Mabior should have disclosed his status to them because there was a chance one of his partners could have contracted the virus.
Mabior is facing deportation to his native Sudan once his sentence is up.
Col. Russell Williams
Col. Russell Williams Career highlights...
Col. Russell Williams, 46, commander of 8 Wing Trenton, was arrested Sunday in connection with the deaths of Jessica Lloyd, 27, and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, 38. He was also charged with two counts of forcible confinement and two counts of break and enter and sexual assault.
Williams joined the Canadian Forces in 1987 after obtaining a degree in economics and political science from the University of Toronto. He received his pilot’s wings in 1990 and was posted to 3 Canadian Forces Flying Training School, Portage la Prairie, Man., where he served for two years as an instructor on the CT-134 Beech Musketeer.
In 1992, he was posted to 434 (Combat Support) Squadron in Shearwater, N.S., where he flew the CC-144 Challenger in the electronic warfare/coastal patrol role, according to his official military biography.
He was subsequently posted to 412 (Transport) Squadron in Ottawa where he continued to fly the Challenger, this time in a VIP transport role. Promoted to major in November 1999, he was posted to director general military careers where he served as the multi-engine pilot career manager.
Williams attended the Canadian Forces command and staff course from August 2003 to June 2004, where he obtained a master of defence studies from the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont. Following promotion to lieutenant-colonel in June 2004, he was appointed commanding officer 437 (Transport) Squadron.
In January 2009, he was posted to the Canadian Forces Language School in Gatineau, Que., for a six-month period of French-language training, during which he was promoted to his current rank.
His bio states Williams is a keen photographer, golfer, fisherman and runner.
Factbox: Key dates
Mon., Feb. 8.
• Police discover the body of missing Belleville, Ont., woman Jessica Lloyd off Carry Road, in the Municipality of Tweed, Ont.
Sun., Feb. 7.
• Ontario Provincial Police and the Belleville Police arrested Col. Russell Williams, 46, wing commander of CFB Trenton. Williams was charged with the first-degree murders of Jessica Lloyd and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau. He also faces two counts of forcible confinement, and two each of break and enter and sexual assault.
Thurs, Feb. 4.
• Police say Williams came to their attention as a result of information gathered during a roadside canvass on Highway 37.
Thurs, Jan. 28.
• The last time Jessica Lloyd, 27, was seen alive.
Wed. Nov. 25, 2009
• Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, 38, was found dead in her Brighton, Ont., residence.
September 2009
• There were two separate home invasions in the Tweed, Ont., area in which two women were the victims of sexual assault.
Read it on Global News: Canadian Forces base commander faces 2 homicide charges in Ontario deaths
The Voices and Faces Project
Speaking Out On Sexual Violence
Professional Workshops and Public Forum featuring - The Voices and Faces Project
June 9, 2010 - Ross Glen Hall, Mount Royal University
This day features workshop sessions for multidisciplinary professionals working with victims of sexual violence. The focus is on identifying issues and action plans to address prevention and myths, improving recognition of victims, removing cultural and gender barriers to services and improving rural access to services.
The evening session features a presentation for the public, "The Voices and Faces Project", a group dedicated to helping survivors speak out.
For more information please contact Amber Berg at aberg@mtroyal.ca
Calgary's 2nd Annual Valentine's Day Memorial March, Sunday February 14, 2010.
Scarboro United Church
134 Scarboro Ave. SW, Calgary
The march starts at 2:00 pm
Please arrive by 1:30 pm
Parking is available on site. Media welcome.
For more information please email: memorialmarchcalgary@live.ca
Sphere: Related Content
19th Annual Women’s Memorial March on February 14th, 2010.
Media Release
Coast Salish Territory, February 8th, 2010—Today, the British Columbia All Chiefs’ Coordinated Action Working Group issued a call to action to Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples worldwide to support the families of murdered and missing women by joining the 19th Annual Women’s Memorial March on February 14th, 2010. For those unable to attend the Women’s Memorial March in Vancouver the Task Force is encouraging individuals to organize a support march in their respective communities to coincide with the Memorial March in Vancouver. This year on February 14th additional Women's Memorial Marches are being organized in Victoria, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton.
Over 520 women have gone missing or been murdered in Canada since the 1970s. Last year, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women issued this statement: “Hundreds of cases involving aboriginal women who have gone missing or been murdered in the past two decades have neither been fully investigated nor attracted priority attention.”
“Indigenous women continue to suffer violence, indignity and discrimination in Canada based on their gender and economic status,” says Kathryn Teneese, Chair of the Ktunaxa Nation Council. “Efforts must continue to bring justice and restore the dignity and respect for First Nations women to ensure the safety of our grandmothers, mothers, daughters, sisters, teachers, and leaders.”
The British Columbia All Chiefs' Task Force is asking the Federal Government for a public inquiry into all the cases involving murdered and missing women in Canada. “A public inquiry will provide closure and answers for the family members still living with the loss of their loved ones and help determine the number of women that have gone missing across the country,” says Chief Wayne Christian, spokesperson for the B.C. All Chiefs’ Task Force. “An inquiry will help in developing a comprehensive action plan to protect First Nations’ women from violence and discrimination.”
About the February 14th Women’s Memorial March:
At noon, all supporters will gather at the Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, 401 Main Street (corner Hastings, Vancouver) where family members speak in remembrance. At 1 pm, the March takes to the streets and proceeds through the Downtown Eastside, with stops to commemorate where women were last seen or found; speeches by community activists at the police station; a healing circle at Oppenheimer Park around 3 pm; and finally a community feast at the Japanese Language Hall.
Please respect the Memorial March and the leadership of those organizing it. This event is organized and led by women in the Downtown Eastside because women, especially Indigenous women, face physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual violence on a daily basis. This is a memorial not a protest; it is a deeply emotional time for family members and women affected especially in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Please do not bring your banners, flags, or leaflets as the Women’s Memorial March carries only five banners specifically to honour the women.
The BC All Chiefs' Task Force has offered their support and solidarity to the 19th Annual Women’s Memorial March and respects the role and voices of those in the Women's Memorial Committee. For media inquires about the Memorial March please visit: http://womensmemorialmarch.wordpress.com/
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About the British Columbia All Chiefs’ Task Force
In August 2009, a First Nations Task Force composed of volunteer First Nation leaders from across the province, was established by First Nations to raise awareness and recognition of Aboriginal title and rights at the provincial, national and international levels, as well as with the general public.
Find additional information and news about the All Chiefs’ Task Force at: http://firstnationstaskforce.wordpress.com
For media inquiries about the All Chief’s Task Force, please contact:
Chief Wayne Christian, Chair, BC All Chiefs’ Coordinated Action Working Group
Spokesperson Shuswap Nation Tribal Council
Not Criminally Responsible...
Man accused of killing 80-year-old nun declared not criminally responsible
February 8, 2010, By THE CANADIAN PRESS
MONTREAL - A man accused of beating an 80-year-old nun to death was declared not criminally responsible for his actions Monday.
Quebec Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer declared that the accused was suffering from serious mental health problems. A trial had begun Monday for Martin Rondeau, accused in the 2007 killing of Roman Catholic nun Estelle Lauzon.
The accused had a history of psychological problems and of drug addiction.
He was being helped by the 80-year-old nun, who worked with him in a halfway house.
The court heard that Rondeau was having an epileptic fit during the attack; reports at the time said he was found covered in blood, and was horrified to realize what he'd done.
Cournoyer said he would make an announcement Wednesday on Rondeau's legal fate.
But several nuns who came to watch the proceedings already offered their own spiritual judgment Monday: they said they've forgiven Rondeau.
New protection for witnesses
By ANDREW HANON, Edmonton Sun, Last Updated: 4th February 2010
She knows all too well the crippling terror that keeps people from testifying against criminals.
The former prostitute has tried for years to get other sex workers to testify against pimps, but invariably they balk.
“They’re too scared,” said the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “They tell me, ‘I can’t. I have kids and these guys know everything about me.’ ”
That’s why she called the provincial government’s plans for a new witness protection program “a huge step, provided they do it right.”
Justice Minister Alison Redford told the Edmonton Sun the provincial program will be very different from the 14-year-old federal plan, which is designed to go after high-profile crime lords and kingpins.
Most people who go into the federal program are given new identities and relocated to other cities. They’re in the program for life because they will always be at risk.
Redford called it “an incredibly costly program and they don’t consider individuals who need protection for a short period of time.”
Alberta’s plan, she said, is part of “a more immediate and rapid response to gangs.”
Organized crime, she explained, “is not what we previously thought of, with the Godfather and the lieutenants. It’s much more fluid, it’s happening on the streets in real time.”
Take, for example, the arrests this week in Vancouver of 14 men accused of being “mid-level” enforcers for the drug trade.
The so-called Buttar gang was described by cops in B.C. as having “sociopathic disregard” for others and often resorted to “mindless violence.”
One cop reportedly said the gang “raised extortion almost to an art form.” People were so afraid of them that getting witnesses to co-operate was almost impossible.
Cases like this can be hard for cops to crack because witnesses probably wouldn’t qualify for the federal protection program, nor would they likely be willing to change their entire lives.
Should a case like this arise in Edmonton, police here will soon be able to offer witnesses a temporary place until things cool down.
“The witness might just feel in the heat of the moment that they need to get away for three or four months, or even the weekend,” explained Redford.
Asked if the program could be used to put away pimps and human traffickers, she replied, “it certainly could. The use of it is not defined by what kind of crime is described by the witness.”
All the details, including the program’s cost, will be revealed in the provincial budget, which will be tabled in the legislature in the coming weeks.
The federal witness protection program was launched in 1996 and is run by the RCMP.
According to the program’s 2008-09 annual report, 103 people across the country were assessed to see if they qualified for the program, with 15 getting accepted. Of those, 12 were given new identities.
Another 19 accepted “alternate methods of protection,” which were not described for safety reasons.
In the same year, 11 people voluntarily left the program, while another six were kicked out because they violated their agreements.
Ten people were offered protection, but refused.
Public Safety Canada says the program cost $6.6 million in 2008-09.
Child abuse victim unhappy with $375Gs
By QMI Agency
A child abuse victim in Nova Scotia says he is not happy with the $375,000 awarded to him by the province on Friday.
"I'm horribly disappointed with the award because the award doesn't justify the abuse," the man, identified only as L.M., told CBC News.
L.M. was one of 29 victims of Cesar Lalo, who worked as a probation officer and social worker for the province. Lalo, 69, was found guilty of sexually assaulting 29 boys between 1973 and 1989 while working for the province.
L.M. said it wasn't a fair settlement considering another victim of one of the province's most notorious child abusers, probation officer and social worker Cesar Lalo, received a $640,000 settlement.
Court documents show that during the proceedings, the court heard that L.M. met Lalo when he was 10-years-old while Lalo was a probation officer. L.M. was 13 when the abuse began.
L.M.'s performance at school dropped significantly after the sexual abuse began, and while he had been in trouble with the law before, his crimes became worse and more frequent after the abuse began.
On several occasions during his teen years, L.M. spoke with mental health professionals about his behaviour, but never admitted to the abuse. In 1996, he told a Halifax Regional Police officer, who was investigating Lalo, about the abuse.
L.M. cried as he told the court about the assaults. He said the abuse started with Lalo opening L.M.'s shirt and rubbing his chest, then he put "his hand down my pants and fondled me and asked how I liked it and stuff like that."
L.M. said later, Lalo would ask him to perform oral sex, and then Lalo performed oral sex on L.M.
The last incident was when they were together in Lalo's car in a north-end Halifax park. While assaulting L.M., Lalo "shoved his finger up my ass," L.M. testified. He said he ran from Lalo's car after that.
In her judgement, Justice Heather Robertson called L.M. "complicated."
"In three and one-half days of testimony, one day of it in strenuous cross examination, it became clear that L.M. is a very disturbed person," she wrote. "I believe that L.M. is a more complicated and troubled person than the straight line criminal characterization defence counsel puts forward."
She added, "There is no doubt in my mind that the Lalo 'event' generated a significant and lasting change in L.M.'s life plan."
She awarded L.M. $250,000 for past and future loss of income, as well as an additional $125,000 in general damages.
L.M. — who is now 35-years-old, unmarried, unemployed and has a son — said he is considering an appeal.
Cedrika Provencher still missing!
Lawyer lauds bid to find missing Quebec girl even though she remains unfound
February 3, 2010, By THE CANADIAN PRESS
TROIS-RIVIERES, Que. - Lawyer Guy Bertrand insists his attempts to find a Quebec girl missing since July 2007 have been fruitful - even though Cedrika Provencher still hasn't been found.
"It was a success because we have information that was never given before," he said Wednesday.
Acting independently of the police, Bertrand spent the past six months gathering information about the girl's disappearance.
Provencher was just nine years old when she vanished from her neighbourhood in Trois-Rivieres, midway between Montreal and Quebec City.
Bertrand says he received 342 detailed pieces of information but that only 21 of the tips were "highly credible."
"In these cases, where I had the consent of informants, I referred the dossiers to the provincial police," he told a news conference in Trois-Rivieres.
Bertrand says the tips included information from an inmate in a Quebec prison "in which he says he is the abductor of Cedrika and recounts details of how it took place."
There was also "information which led us to dig up the ground in certain places where it was stated that Cedrika was buried."
A provincial police spokesman confirmed Bertrand passed the leads along to authorities.
"We got the information, I can't say when, but we received all the information," Sgt. Claude Denis told The Canadian Press.
Bertrand indicated he had been working with investigators all along.
It was also not known whether police have been in contact with the inmate mentioned by Bertrand.
The Quebec city lawyer says a tip was also received which identified "a potential abductor who was involved in the search to find Cedrika and was the owner of a red vehicle."
In September 2007, provincial police released a description of a French-speaking man and a four-door red Acura car believed to be involved in the girl's disappearance.
The man in his 30s had approached several girls about needing help to look for a lost dog in the two days before Cedrika vanished on July 31, 2007.
Bertrand says he verified the credibility of all informants and also checked with their families to see if they were people who had a tendency to exaggerate.
He received all the tips by phone, in writing or through personal visits to his law office.
"We have eight lines in the office and often the eight lines were busy," he said.
Bertrand wants Quebec to recognize the role that an independent counsel can play in the disappearance of missing children.
"His role should be well defined, he should have a budget to accomplish his task and his liberty should be protected," Bertrand added.
He also recommends that the Quebec Education Department and educators provide children in elementary schools with adequate information on how to protect themselves against all forms of abduction.
The lawyer says he hates being asked by reporters if he failed in his attempts to find the girl.
"The success is not if we found Cedrika or not," Bertrand said.
"A doctor doesn't fail when he tries all possibilities to save his patient."
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